How often should I shower?

[grosstonotshower]

Ok so I'm having a few drinks with friends last night. We are all female a mix of parents and non parents. One friend mentions she is struggling to find time for o shower every day since she had her baby. I said "well I don't shower every day without a young baby," All of my friends looked at me in horror. Apparently even the ones with kids shower daily. Full disclosure I have two dd one under five and I work part time. I shower on work days plus one extra day so usually three times a week my days off usually consist of playing at home, walking dog, school run and maybe park. I would shower extra if exercising/having sex/on period etc. I bath my dc three times a week. My oh works out every week day so he does shower more than me. AIBD? (Disgusting 😂)

Daily minimum, often twice a day if I’ve been out and sweated a bit.

There are always people on these threads who claim they can smell those who don’t shower every day. Fact is there are a lot of properly dirty people. People who don’t wash for several days or more at a time. People who don’t wash their clothes enough. People who don’t wipe their backsides. People who don’t look after their teeth. People who might wash with water but never use soap or deodorant. These are the people you’re smelling, not somebody who showers less frequently than you but still regularly than you.

The naivety of posters who believe ‘everyone’ showers at least once a day is astounding. Not only are many people both clean and showering less frequently, but there is a large minority of people who don’t bother with hygiene much at all.

@BlondeDogLady

It takes two mins, why would you not shower daily? There is literally no reason why not

Yes there is - every time you shower you strip your skin of its natural oils.

NHS recommends that you shower twice a week!

In the 70's people tended to have a bath once a week - I don't recall anyone smelling bad.

I shower every 3rd day.

People showering twice or even three times a day? Why?? Unless you're working out and sweating, I just don't see why this would be needed. Very wasteful and SO bad for your skin.

Moisturiser? Moisturising soap? A bar if you don't want to scrub? Cooler water?

It's common for black people, regardless of nationality, to shower daily. Even with naturally drier skin, there are ways to mitigate the drying effect.

How are armpits etc. Meant to get clean with such irregular washing or worse, soap dodging?

being greasy is not better than being dry.

You're wrong. So wrong. But you just keep thinking it

Thanks, I will keep thinking it. Are you always so passive aggressive and odd?

I wash less than I used to and my skin is all the better for it. I find that a thorough wash with a flannel, warm water and bar soap gets me so much cleaner than a shower with a pouffe and shower gel, and that not washing areas that don't need it all the time gives my skin change to recover and get the moisture it needs. I do think it depends on skin type, I used to shower twice a day with sensitive skin and spend a fortune on moisturisers. A quick sink wash for underarms, bra area and nether regions every morning, and a separate quick and easy skin care routine for my face morning and night. I probably only bath 3x a week (I never shower) and wash my hair 1-2x about once every 4 days although I use conditioners and oils on it every day (same with my body which generally is more moisturised than washed). I don't think we need to have a full wash every day, but that said nobody should be walking around with smelly bits or pits but that really does vary for people, sometimes I have a sink wash half way through the day if I need it! It's really about your own bodies needs so everyone varies. But you can over wash too

Frequency of showering is not the only factor in personal smelliness.

There is also how often and at what temperature clothes are washed, and does the person use deodorant. Could also be impacted by how many times towels are used, and how often bed sheets are changed.

"Moisturiser?
Moisturising soap? A bar if you don't want to scrub?
Cooler water?"

I use body lotion after every shower. It's one of the reasons showering takes longer than a sink wash.

"How are armpits etc. Meant to get clean with such irregular washing or worse, soap dodging?"

You wash them with soap/shower gel and hot water in the sink then you use anti-perspirant.

@ClafoutisSurprise

There are always people on these threads who claim they can smell those who don’t shower every day. Fact is there are a lot of properly dirty people. People who don’t wash for several days or more at a time. People who don’t wash their clothes enough. People who don’t wipe their backsides. People who don’t look after their teeth. People who might wash with water but never use soap or deodorant. These are the people you’re smelling, not somebody who showers less frequently than you but still regularly than you.

The naivety of posters who believe ‘everyone’ showers at least once a day is astounding. Not only are many people both clean and showering less frequently, but there is a large minority of people who don’t bother with hygiene much at all.

Perfectly said Claf

It totally depends on the individual. My friend sweats a lot and isn't comfortable if she doesn't shower both morning and night.
I could easily only have three showers a week and not smell.
However, I run/exercise a lot so I do shower, but the sweat tends to not smell. Obviously I shower for my skin's sake though. Some people only have to get dressed and move about and they sweat and it smells.

Same as hair, some people need to wash it more often

I shower once a day, from 6am until midnight. Only popping out every hour or so to post on Mumsnet. They I hurry back and SCRUB.

No, it's easier to have a quick wash in the sink, is more environmentally friendly and saves heating costs.
I won't add instructions as it's not hard to work out imho

@ravenmum

It is to me. I would love instructions. But then if you gave me those I'm pretty sure it would be clear it's not easier...

I can say the same for my DH; he doesn't need to shower daily. I have a very sensitive smell (I smell a lot more things than my family and friends can) and I'd know or tell him if he smelled.
Can't say the same for my ex, so it's not that I'm nose blind. However he had a more manual job

@Gwenhwyfar

"Moisturiser? Moisturising soap? A bar if you don't want to scrub? Cooler water?"

I use body lotion after every shower. It's one of the reasons showering takes longer than a sink wash.

"How are armpits etc. Meant to get clean with such irregular washing or worse, soap dodging?"

You wash them with soap/shower gel and hot water in the sink then you use anti-perspirant.

So dryness isn't the issue then? Someone said they don't shower daily because of dryness, that's what I commented on

Happens with every shower I use. The hot water tap also takes a bit to get warm, but that is less of a problem.

I guess I just wouldn’t see ‘wait for shower to heat up’ as a major job. Turn shower on, wave hand underneath to check it’s warm, get in. I definitely wouldn’t see it as such an overwhelming task that it would put me off showering.

If people don’t want to shower daily that’s on them, different strokes for different folks! I don’t know whether my friends and family shower daily or not and I’m not particularly interested. It’s the insistence that showering is some huge job because you need to walk to the bathroom and wait for the shower to heat up and remove the towel from the rail and rub it on your body and it’s all just so difficult and time consuming.

In reality, for most healthy adults, showering is not a massive job. And if you’re able bodied but don’t do it daily because you just don’t want to that’s fine but I don’t see the need for justifying it by trying to make it sound like it’s a huge task akin to building a house.

"The average 10-minute shower uses 60 litres of water. A power shower uses three times that and a bath about 80 litres. So a family of four each having a daily 10-minute power shower (I know that is a very conservative estimate for some teenagers) will consume a staggering 0.25m litres of water every year. The annual average cost for electricity for four 10-minute showers per day would be up to about £400, or £1,200 if a power shower is involved. Even worse, the power-shower family would be emitting a staggering 3.5 tonnes of CO2. As we can afford only one tonne of carbon emissions per person – for everything from food to transport – if we are to keep global temperatures below the critical 2C threshold, this would consume nearly all of the family’s carbon budget."https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/08/shower-once-a-week-polluting-environment

Remind me to never again listen to MNers preach about how environmentally friendly they are, or guilt trip people who want a big family.

I also just could not be bothered with a ‘quick wash’ or ‘bra area, nether regions, and genitals’ over the sink every morning. Standing in the cold scrubbing my bits with a flannel rinsed out in soapy hot water just sounds like a much bigger faff than showering.

Plus I’ve had to do it after surgery before (wasn’t allowed to shower or bathe) and it just wasn’t comfortable.

I don’t see how waiting for the shower to warm up is something that would put me off.

I turn the shower on then go for a wee or take my clothes off whilst it’s warming up. I don’t stand and wait.

@ravenmum Oh I see you did add instructions for someone further up in the end anyway! Interesting

Anyway, you missed off rinsing with the sink part. Unless you just leave shower gel/soap on your body? Rinsing is much easier in the shower.

@WindInTheWillows7

"The average 10-minute shower uses 60 litres of water. A power shower uses three times that and a bath about 80 litres. So a family of four each having a daily 10-minute power shower (I know that is a very conservative estimate for some teenagers) will consume a staggering 0.25m litres of water every year. The annual average cost for electricity for four 10-minute showers per day would be up to about £400, or £1,200 if a power shower is involved. Even worse, the power-shower family would be emitting a staggering 3.5 tonnes of CO2. As we can afford only one tonne of carbon emissions per person – for everything from food to transport – if we are to keep global temperatures below the critical 2C threshold, this would consume nearly all of the family’s carbon budget."https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/08/shower-once-a-week-polluting-environment

Remind me to never again listen to MNers preach about how environmentally friendly they are, or guilt trip people who want a big family.

I totally agree

@ISmellBurnings

I don’t see how waiting for the shower to warm up is something that would put me off.

I turn the shower on then go for a wee or take my clothes off whilst it’s warming up. I don’t stand and wait.

I brush my hair while I'm waiting. It's just an example of how a shower doesn't just take a few minutes. And there's also the need for the open window for a whole hour afterwards to get rid of all the humidity.

@ISmellBurnings

I don’t see how waiting for the shower to warm up is something that would put me off.

I turn the shower on then go for a wee or take my clothes off whilst it’s warming up. I don’t stand and wait.

It’s expensive for those with water meters

I prefer to show daily. I don’t think it’s grim to shower every other day. I can be smelly so prefer to wash more

Every morning personally but I've learnt myself to rely on it in order to wake up properly, same with the morning cup of coffee.

"So dryness isn't the issue then? Someone said they don't shower daily because of dryness, that's what I commented on"

Dryness is still an issue, of course. Immersing your body in water every day will make your skin dry. You can counteract this with body lotions, but that takes time of course and won't completely make up for it.

I shower 6/7 days. I don’t exercise on a Saturday or Sunday so tend to shower Saturday morning and have a long lie on a Sunday!

I only wash my hair three times a week though and use dry shampoo in between.